Dump car



Aug.. 16,1932. D. HINDAHL j 1,872,451

DUMP CAR Filed June 6, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l @QOQ GO @000 Aug. 16, 1932.H HL DUMP CAR Filed June 6, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I :iiizq h H." n

inventor Patented Aug. 16, 1932 uni-Tao STATES DAV-ID samnennjor ntense,IL LI NoIs, ASSIGNOR To norm-m BALLAST. can P-ANY, or -onrcnco, rumors,A conronerron or mama." i

DUMP CAR i a i fi e 9 .0: Se. v e l -v M l:

This invention relates to an improved construction for ballast carsandhasreference more particularly to a dum car, adapted for carryingmaterials and or discharging the same either between the rails oroutside the rails.

In railroad ballast work there is a great advantage in dumping theballast material at the proper point with respect to the rails in amanner to prevent covering the latter. This results from the factthat inservice'the car is moved along the track and simultanee ously depositsthe ballast between the rails and if the material was allowedto floodthe rails, derailing of the car and other serious damage would result,the specific embodinient herein disclosed this is accomplished byemploying pivotally mountedextensions forming a continuation ofthe'inner hopper side walls and which are caused to swing open as thehopper doors open but which remain in contact with the "doorssufliciently to prevent dischargeof the'imaterial until the free edge ofthe door has been lowered to a predetremined point. It is alsocommercially desirable at times to employ the type of car described fortransporting coal and for this purpose the feature set out above is notimportant butit is necessary to have a discharge opening for the coal ofmaximum size.

' properly depositing ballast material It is therefore one of theprimary objects of the present invention to provide a dump car embodyingnovel features of construction whereby the same will be equallyeiiicient in with respect to the rails and also in discharging coal andthe like,

A yet further object of the invention is to provide a dump car in whichthe center sill structure of the car is provided with means cooperatingwith the free edge of the down- 7 wardly swinging hopper doors in such amanner as to prevent the discharge of material from the hoppers untilthe doorshave reached a predetermined point.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a dump car havinghopper doors which will properly deposit the ballast mater al along th cn o th ro e a which-jwill also embody novel features forincreasing'tfhesize of the openin between the. lowerpprtion of thehopper doors and thefcentral shedding surfaces of the car,

v With these and various other objects in View, the inventionjmayconsist of certain novel features ofjconstruction and operation, as willbe more vfully describedand particularly pointed out in thespecification, drawings and claims appended'hereto.

In the drawings, which illustrate an em- QC nent-of the device andwherein like reference characters are used to designate like Pa ts? 7Figu e l s a ransverse ect onal V v0f a dump car embodying theconstruction of the present invention; and i a T Figure Zi s atransverse sectional View of adun p car sin ilar to'Figure 1 showing thedumping mechanism in discharged posi- The present invention is shown asapplied to a railw'ay ballast car having the usualside walls :10, endwalls lland bottomrwhichin this case is a hopper bottom, comprising twohoppers 12 formed on opposite sides of a longitudinally ,eXtending'center sill structure. The sill" structure includes a plurality ofspaced vertical beams 13 having disposed over them a longitudinallyextending memberlei provided with inclined side Saracens and secured totheends ofthecarby flan cs 16, Also secured to each'end structure of tescar and entending longitudinally thereof are members '17 which areinclined and serve'to join the side walls 10 with the hopper doors, tobe presently "described. *Thesemember's form shedding surfaces and'serveto direct the ballast material towards the hopper openings 12 as doesalso the member 14 by reason of the shedding surfaces 15,described. Y

It of course understoodth'at the center sill members comprising thebeams 13 form theiinner walls of the longitudinally attending hoppers 12andfor this kreasdn are prgmeans of brackets 21 secured to the lowerflanges by any suitable means. It is therefore seen that the members 18not only form a continuation of the inner walls of the hopper but alsofunction as pivoted doors and when in closed'position haveengagementiwith the main hopper doors, to be described, to form aportion of the hopper bottom.

i The otheror outer walls of the hoppers 12 are formed byrdoorstructures in each case including a door frame 22 pivotally connected atits upper edge as at 23 to the car structure by means of any suitablebracket or support 24:. The door frame in each case extends considerablybeyond the lower extremity of its associated hopper wall18 when in.cflo'sed position asshown in F igure 1.

Pivotally mounted in each of these door framesare one or more doe'rs2'5,which preferably are pivoted in the door frames as at 26 at a point justb'elow the lower extremity of the associated inner hopper side wall 18,so that when the doors '25 are in open position the surface of the doorsand the members 18 will form a continuousv shedding surface which mayor'ina-y not be in the same plane in accordance with requirements. Theopening andc'losing movements of the doors 25 are controlled by anysuitable door operating mechanism. including chains 27 v operativelyconnected tothe doors and to operating shafts,

28 iournaled in the brackets 24.; 4

. Particular reference willnow be had to the means whereby the flow ofdumpable ma terial 'fromhopper's 12 maybe accurately controlled andmorespecifically to means wherebyfballast material is properly depositedwith respect to the rails and prevented from coveringthe latter. v Thiscomprises the operating 'mechanism 'for controlling the opening andclosing movements of the door frames 22 which mechanism consists of anoperating shaft 30, preferably square in cross-section and journaled inU-shaped brackets 81, which brackets are secured to and depend from thelower flanges of the vertical beams 13. Located on theshaft 30 are aplurality of crank arms 32, each arm having pivotally secured to itslower end a link 33 of the formation as shown in Figure 2. To the freeend of the links-33 is pivotally tsecured hanger arms 34 which arms arein turn'pivotally secured at 35' to the lowermost end of the door frames22. For controlling opening and closing of the frames 22 there fore,it-is only necessary to rotate the operating shaft-30 which'will in turnimpart the necessary rotation to the crank arms 32 which serves to liftthe hanger arms 34'and locate the. same over .the operating shaft 30, as

of the'ball'ast'material 'uponthe doors will be supported from thebrackets 31 and thus from the center sill structure including the beams13.

A feature of the present invention in connection with this opening andclosing of the frames 22 so as to deposit the ballast materialsubstantiallvcentrally of the roadbed, comprises operating mechanism forsimultaneously imparting rotation to the members 18 so as to cause moreefficient dumping of the material. This mechanism comprises a pluralityof levers 38, each lever pivotally secured at 39 to the lower end of thedoor frame 22 at a point somewhat removed from the pivot 35'of the arms34. Each lever 38 is also pivotally secured at its other end to themember 18 located opposite to its particular/door frame 22 to which thelever is secured: I Each lever 38 therefore'is disposed diagonallytoitscompanion lever and functions to impart the necessary rotation to themembers 18 about theirpivot point 20 as the various door frames 22 areopened or close'daccording to the ope'rationof the operating shaft 30.By reference to Figure 2, it isrseen thatthis construction of pivotallysecuring the levers atone end to the frames 22 and-at their other end toa member 18, will'function to impart counterclockwise rotation to one ofthe inembers, and clockwise rotation to the other member. This movementof the members 18 takes place'imr mediately upon the lowering of thedoor frames and'increases in the rapidity of its movement as'theopeningofythe door frames 22 continue. I I

Whenit isdesired to deposit lading between the rails 8'8 the op'erationis accomplished by lowering of the door frames 22. It is 'to be notedthat when the frames are in closed positionthe members 18 havecontacting. engagement with and form withthe frames or morecorrectlywith theidoors 25' an angle which is greater than a right angle. Upona'lowering of the frames the 'members 18 are caused to pivotally rotateas described which movement is such that contact between the frames22and the members 18 continues until theangle between them assumes rightangle. This position of the parts is clearly shown in dottedlines inFigure 2.- It is thus seen that-discharge of the material is pre venteduntil the frames are loweredto a predetermined point., This feature isparticularly importantfin the construction of ballast cars. p I w Thestructure describedalso allows more efficient dumping of the material bymaterial ly increasing the size of the discharge opening. Inpreviousconstructions the size of the dlscharge opening. was defined bythe lower end ofthe inner hopper walls and the door frames when the samewjerein dischargepositionv However, inthe present construction the innerhopper-walls whichin this case inp clude the members 18, aresimultaneously Lava-car Opening through which the material is dischargedis considerably increased. The pres ent invention therefore results in adump car which will embody structure for adapting the same for use as acoal car without sacrificing any of the features desirable in ballastcar construction.

Another feature of the invention resides in the fact that although themembers 18 have pivotal movement simultaneously with the opening andclosing of the frames 22, they also form a portion of the hopper bottomwhen the frames are in closed position since the members 18 are thendisposed in sloping position with respect to the frames and haveengagement against thedoors 25 so as to complete the hopper bottom.

It is to be understood that I do not wish to be limited by the exactembodiment of the device shown, which is merely by way of illustrationand not limitation, as various and other forms of the device will ofcourse be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing fromthe spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. In a hopper car, a hopper and means for closing said hopper,including a door comprising a part of the hopper bottom and a membercooperating with said door at a point intermediate its length tocomplete the hopper bottom, said member having movement during theopening of said door to materially increase the size of the dischargeopening.

2. In a hopper car, a hopper and means for closing said hopper,including a door comprising a part of the hopper bottom and a membercooperating with said door to complete the hopper bottom, said memberforming an extension of the inner hopper wall and engaging the door whenclosed intermediate its length, and means imparting rotation to saidmember during the Opening of said door to increase the size of thedischarge opening.

3. In a hopper car, a plurality of hoppers, doors for closing saidhoppers, said doors being pivotally mounted with their free edgesextending towards each other, members comprising inner hopper walls andengaging said doors intermediate its length when in closed position tocomplete the hopper bottom, said members being adapted for movementduring the opening of the doors to increase the discharge opening.

4. A car of the class described having a bottom comprising alongitudinally extending hopper, said hopper having an inner wall and anouter movable wall, said inner wall including a pivotally mountedextension having engagement with said movable wall at a pointintermediate its length when in closed position, and means for impartingrotation to said extension. during the opening moveinentsof saidmovabletwall.

5.. Acar of the class described having abottom comprising alongitudinally extending hopper, said hopperincluding a door structurepivotally mounted at its upper end and movable tocontrol the. flow ofdumpable material to a point between the rails, and means actuatedbysaid door during movement, thereof for facilitating the flow of saiddumpable materiah V 6.; A; car. of the class described having a centersill forming wall portions of oppo sitely. arranged hoppers, said centersillj including longitudinally extending beams and havingmemberspivotally secured thereto forming extensions of said wallportions, pivotally 'mounted doors forming the other wall of saidhoppers,said doors and said pivotedniembers being movable simultaneouslyto facilitate discharge, of material from said hoppers 5 7. A carof-theclass described having a center sill forming-wall portions of oppositelyarranged hoppers, said center sill including. longitudinally extendingbeams, members pivotally secured to said beams and forming extensions of'said'wall portions. pivotally mounted doors forming the other wall ofsaid hoppers, and means connecting the freeaen-d's. of said members withthe free ends of said oppositely located doors, whereby said members arerotated during the op ening movements of said doors in a direction toincrease the size of the discharge openings.

8. A car of the'class described having a center sill forming inner wallportions of oppositely arranged V-shaped hoppers, said center sillincluding longitudinally extending beams, members pivotally secured tosaid beams and forming extensions of said inner wall portions, pivotallymounted doors forming the outer wall of said hoppers and cooperatingwith said members when in closed position to form the bottom of saidhoppers, levers pivotally secured to the free ends of said doors andhaving pivotal connection to oppositely located members, and means forimparting opening and closing movements to said doors, the openingmovement of said doors imparting rotation to said members in a directionto increase the size of the discharge opening.

9. A car of the class described having a center sill, a hopper, aninclined swinging door normally closing said hopper, said door having afree edge extending toward the center sill, and pivotally mounted meanscooperating with the door at a point intermediate its length to preventdischarge of ma terial from the door until its opening movement hasreached a predetermined point.

10. A car of the class described having a center sill, a hopper, aninclined swinging door normally closing said hopper, said door having afree" edge extending toward the center sill, pivotally mounted meansdependingfrom said center sill, said means cooperating with the door ata point intermediate its length to prevent'discharge of material fromthe door until its opening movement has reached a predetermined point.

11. A car having a bottom comprising a longitudinally extending hopper,one side of said hopper including a pivoted extension, the other side ofsaid hopper including an inclined door normally engaging the pivotedextension and mounted to swing away from said extension to'discharge theload to one side'of the rail, or to swinginto line with said extensionto discharge the load to the other side of the rail. 7

12. A car of the class described having a center sill, a bottomcomprising a substantially V-shaped hopper having a downwardly extendingextension forming the inner side and being pivotally secured to said center sill, a downwardlyand inwardly inclined outer side, the inner end ofsaid outer side extending beyond the lower edge of thepivoted-extension, and means for discharging the load through saidhopper toward the center or toward the side of the car,

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 29thday of May, 1930.

DAVID HINDAHLL

